Stephanie Chan, the owner of A Flower Shop, is a bright spark in the hustle and bustle of Tanjong Pagar.
She offers Floral Therapy to lift the moods of her customers, using her fresh blooms to help them express themselves creatively and intuitively.
Her Floral Therapy sessions help busy executives, friends and families capture their feelings via the evocative colours, scents, textures and silhouettes of the flowers she handpicks and stocks in her store at Oxley Tower.
Overcoming Depression From Losing A Job
I met Stephanie through a friend who had attended one of her floral workshops before.
Stephanie had just started A Flower Shop in 2018 after a long journey since she was retrenched from a Hong Kong company in the financial industry.
After her retrenchment, she found a job in an IT firm, but she experienced workplace bullying from an overseas colleague who made it difficult for her to work there.
Although she searched for jobs in the National JobsBank and attended interviews, she felt she faced ageism from hirers.
It was a tough time for her, not only financially but mentally.
She shared, “I had to find something else to do, or I would coop myself at home with negative thoughts. Besides job searching, what could I do?”.
Starting A Flower Shop
She decided to invest her savings to take over a traditional floral wholesale business, but her regular customer base (typically the older generation of florists) was shrinking as younger entrants preferred to buy online.
To think of how to maximise her existing inventory, she decided to study floral arrangement in Seoul, South Korea.
One interesting observation she made is that in South Korea, buying flowers is an everyday thing. However, in Singapore, people tend to only buy flowers for special occasions.
Another observation is that customers in South Korea value overall style and look, but customers in Singapore are more concerned about quantity and value for money.
As some customers in Singapore are always looking for the cheapest florist due to their cheap-sourcing mentality, sadly some florists have to survive by undercutting each other to gain market share.
She decided that A Flower Shop would find ways to add value to customers’ lives, instead of simply offering floral products.
Floral Therapy At A Flower Shop
One of her popular Floral Therapy sessions is hand-bouquet making that gives friends or families an activity to bond with each other.
Her shop offers a calm space with the fresh scents of flowers and romantic lighting creating a natural ambience of warmth and welcome.
She has run Floral Therapy sessions for mums and daughters, girlfriends for a hen party activity, and playdates for older children.
Her Floral Therapy sessions are great for teambuilding activities for small teams, and even small expat gatherings.
She can even run “secret” floral therapy sessions for men to make surprise floral bouquets or table arrangements for their wives or mothers.
Her flowers are hand-picked and she offers different choices of flowers (besides the usual roses and eustomas) such as Blushing Bride.
Her Floral Therapy sessions (one to two hours long) cater to a maximum of six people, where you can create something beautiful over a warm cup of tea.
Spreading Happiness With A Flower Shop
For busy customers, she creates Pick-A-Bunch, a sweet collection of flowers popular with office ladies, or Pick-Me-Up, an affordable hand-bouquet for casual dates or occasions.
Her larger hand bouquets, vase bouquets and basket arrangements are popular for important dates, corporate gifts and housewarming gifts.
She also brought in everlasting bloom boxes with preserved roses which can last for years, suitable for birthdays, Valentine’s Day, anniversaries and table centrepieces.
If you’re ever looking for a safe space to breathe and care for your mental wellness, learn more about A Flower Shop here.
Special thanks to Stephanie Chan of A Floral Shop for the interview.
What do you want to tell others? Find me at jules <at> workersofsingapore (dot) com
